Lacquer



Aug. 26, 1947. o. sAsLAw LACQUER ofiginal Filed .my 2. 1942 0770 `S/fISLAw Patented Aug. 26, 1 947 otto sasiaw, Kearny, N.- J., ,assigner winter'- nationai Telephone & Radio Manufacturing Corporation, New

Delaware York, N. Y., a corporation ofv original application July 2, 1942, serial No.

449,529. Divided and this application 8, 1945, Serial No.'576,853

's claims. (ci. 10s-192) This invention relates to lacquers and particularly to iacquers for coating the selenium of selenium cells and selenium coated with such lacquer,

and is a division oi' my copending application Serial Number 449,529, filed July 2, 1942.

The object of this invention is to improve the voltage and rectifier characteristics of selenium cells.

The improvement is carried out according to this invention by the `application to the selenium surface of a lacquer containing cellulose acetate and preferably containing selenium dioxide,

which upon drying leaves a layer which enablesl the voltage across the cell to be increased and also reduces the undesirable current which flows in the reverse direction.

Selenium rectifier' plates by coating selenium on a base plate and heattreating it to crystallize the selenium and enable it to perform 'a rectifying function. According to theory, when the selenium ls treated in this manner( a so-called blocking layer forms on the surface thereof, at least when a voltage is applied thereto, which has the property of conducting more current in one direction than in the other, thereby providing the rectifying characteristie. The voltage whichmay be applied across such a plate is rather limited and likewise the current flowing in the reverse direction is often greater than desired.

In accordance with my invention I have succeeded in increasing the voltage which can be applied across the cell and reducing the current owing in the reverse direction. l have done this by coating the annealed selenium surface with a lacquer containing cellulose acetate which upon drying leaves a lm on the surface of the selenium. The lacquer should preferably contain some selenium dioxide as this will result in very little reduction of the forward conductivity while the reduction in the reverse conductivity will be relatively very. great. Ifthe selenium dioxide be omitted there will still be realized a substantial decrease in reverse conductivity and increase in the voltage which may be applied, but the forward `conductivity is apt also to be considerably harmed.

The invention willbe better understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings of which Fig. 1 is a plan view and Fig. 2 a side elevation in cross section of a selenium cell having a lacquered selenium in accordance with this invention.

Figs. l and 2 show a well-known type of se1eniurn disc such as is used for 9, rectier. It cornare ordinarily made February prises a base plate l, ordinarily of steel on which is placed a layer of selenium 2. The selenium may be applied in any suitable manner such as melt-` ing amorphous selenium powder and spreading the molten selenium over the base plate and then 'allowing it to cool and harden. The selenium c should then be annealed in a well-known manner by heating it for a period of time at a temperature below the melting point to induce crystallization and enable the cell to operate properly as a rectifler. A suitable Way of carrying out this heat treatment is first to compress the selenium coated disc in a press and heat it for about a half hourf at a temperature of about 120 C., then remove the pressure and raise the temperature to about 214 C. for some hours. In accordance ywith my invention there is then applied to the surface of the "annealed selenium a layer of lacquer 3 made as described in detail below. In order to use this device as a rectiiler acounter-electrode 4 should thenbe applied over layer 3 by sprayngn a suitable metallic alloy such as an alloy of cadmium, bismuth and tin.

I have found that the following proportions are satisfactory ,for the lacquer: 3 parts by'welght of selenium dioxide, 4 parts by weight of a heavy cellulose acetate lacquer, and parts by weight of a volatile thinner. For the heavy cellulose acetate lacquer I have found that four grams of cellulose acetate dissolved in a thinner of .about sixty grams of ethylene glycol mono-methyl ether acetate also known under the trade name of methyl Cellosolve acetate is suitable, and this may be used as the four parts of heavy lacquer in the above proportions. The methyl Cellosolve acetate is the best known solvent for the cellulose acetate which will not harm the blocking layer. The proportions given above are not necessarily critical and may vary within considerably wide limits. For example, the60 parts by weight of the volatile thinner may be varied by as :much as plus or minus 20 or 30 parts; the three parts of selenium dioxide could, for example, be increased to as much as eight parts, or on the other hand might be decreased practically to zero (with corresponding decreased forward conductivity).

A good way I have found of making the lacquer is to provide separately three component parts which will here be designated as part A, part B and part C. Part A is made by mixing 60 parts oi' methyl Cellosolve acetate and about 2 parts of cellulose acetate. Part B is a pure thinner of methyl Cellosolve acetate. Part C is a 5% solution of selenium dioxide in absolute ethyl alcohol. When lt is desired to apply the lacquer by spraying, satisfactory proportions of these three components are 1 part A, 5 parts of B and 5 parts of C. The 5 parts of B (methyl Cellosolve acetate) could, of course, be varied to make the lacquer as thin as desired, and the 5 parts of C could considerably be varied for example within a range of from 2 to 10 parts of C.

'I'he lacquer may be applied to the selenium N surface to form the layer 3 in any convenient manner as by brushing or by spraying. The thinner will volatilize leaving as the vbase a. very thin skin probably of about molecular thickness, formed principally by the cellulose acetate and such selenium dioxide as is'used in the lacquer.

' What is claimed is: l

l. A lacquerconsisting of about 4 parts by weight of a heavy cellulose lacquer composed of cellulose acetate `dissolved in ethylene glycol mono-methyl ether acetate in the approximate 4 glycol mono-methyl ether acetate and part C is an approximately 5% solution of selenium dioxide in ethyl alcohol.

3. A lacquer for coating selenium surfaces of Arectier elements that consists of approximately 1 part by weight of cellulose acetate, about 3 to 32 parts by weight of selenium dioxide, and approximately 135 to 375 parts by weight of ethylene glycol mono-methyl ether acetate.

' OTTO SASLAW.

REFERENCES CITED '.I'he following references are oi record in the flle of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,128,572 Gessler Aug. 30, 1938 1,689,311 Wheeler Oct. 31, 1928 1,731,333 Davison Oct. 15, 1929 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 112,726 vAustralia. Feb. 13, 1940 OTHER REFERENCES Article entitled Cellulose Acetated Lacquers,

by Hoiman et al., found on pages 955 to 965, in-

elusive, of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry," Oct. 1929. 

